Episode 9: Lingering Scent
We are shown a flashback of Madlax’s relatively recent past, wherein she parted with a fellow mercenary who might have been something like a “significant other.” His name was Luciano. He was a tall and handsome white man with dark brown hair. One night, he told Madlax he was leaving the country, and in his new country, he would start a new life and love people. Madlax seemed doubtful that he could leave the dark mercenary world behind. She also seemed very sad when she told him, “Sayonara, Luciano.” Vanessa decides to spend her paid vacation at an expensive hotel and take Eleanor and Margaret with her. On the way, though, the car that three women are riding in breaks down. Before long, a man on a motorcycle stops to help them. Of course, it’s Luciano. He gets the car running again. When Margaret mentions they’re going to the Arliem Hotel, Luciano looks suddenly grim. He quickly shakes it off and tells the three women to have a great vacation. They continue on. While Eleanor and Margaret swim in the hotel’s outdoor pool, Vanessa sunbathes in her chair. That is, until she sees Carossur Don and another man from Bookwald Industries approaching. Technically, Vanessa isn’t supposed to be using this hotel; she’s taking advantage of her company. Rather than be found out by her bosses, Vanessa pretends to be someone else, using a more feminine voice and wearing a sunhat and sunglasses to make sure they don’t recognize her. The large man from Bookwald says he thought he and Carossur were supposed to be the only ones staying tonight. Vanessa comes up with a white lie and they leave well enough alone, apparently fooled. Unknown to Don’s group and Vanessa’s group alike, Luciano lurks in the forest, aiming at Don with a sniper rifle. He can’t get in a good shot with so many other people around, so he decides to try later. Margaret goes for a walk in the woods near the hotel. For a second, she is able to clearly see the glowing figure of Leticia. But when Margaret does a double-take, the child has vanished. In The Other World they exist in, the little Leticia and Poupee are sitting on a bench. Leticia said, “Someone almost just came over to our side. I wonder who it was?” Back in the real world, as Margaret stares at into the trees, Luciano appears. Luciano sets up camp in the woods, saying he’s a traveler, and he can sleep wherever he wants. He makes tea for himself and Margaret. He and Margaret talk about this and that for a while, and Luciano says he feels relaxed when he is around her. Perhaps because he relaxes too much, he falls asleep and relives a memory of a time when he was a soldier. During one fight, he was shot, and while he lay half-conscious, he saw Leticia standing over him, glowing like a ghost, and hugging the doll she always carries. Though Leticia has red hair and green eyes, the lighting was different in Luciano’s vision, making it look like she had the same brown hair and blue eyes as Margaret. When he wakes up from his dream-memory, it’s already night, and Margaret has fallen asleep at his campsite. Back in the hotel, Vanessa overhears a conversation between Carossur Don and the other man, who is the Executive Director of Bookwald Industries. From their conversation, Vanessa learned that Bookwald Industries is exporting weapons to Gazth-Sonika. Enfant agents are the ones who do the grunt work in this exchange between Nafrece and Gazth-Sonika. Viewers who know that Don has infiltrated the Gazth-Sonika government can also gather that his purpose in doing so is to make sure the civil war continues. If the war ended, there would be no weapons market, and Bookwald would no longer profit. Vanessa’s troubled thoughts are interrupted when she sees Luciano approaching, carrying Margaret, fast asleep, in his arms. They take Ojou-sama to her room and lay her in bed. Vanessa speculates that maybe Margaret was attracted to Luciano, but Eleanor firmly states that can’t be possible. Vanessa suggests the maid is jealous. The next day, Luciano prepares for his last mission: to assassinate Carossur Don. At the same time, Vanessa and company are preparing to leave the hotel. Margaret leaves the car in a rush, having forgotten her picture book. She returns to the hotel room and recovers it. Luciano is distracted by Margaret running around and mistakenly shoots down the Bookwald Executive Director. As for Don, he quickly hides. Limelda Jorg, his own private bodyguard and sniper, takes things into her hands, and quickly shoots Luciano. Margaret must have heard the gunshots, but rather than being scared, she goes back to the car and asks Vanessa to drive as close as she can to the top of the hill where Luciano had set up camp. Vanessa agrees. She goes with Margaret and Eleanor to look for Luciano, but they can’t find him. From the place where he lay among the bushes, dying, Luciano can see Margaret in the distance. Suddenly he realizes why being near her makes him feel relaxed. It’s because she carries “the smell of Gazth-Sonika.” He dies soon after. At the end, Madlax gets a call from Three-Speed or SSS telling her there’s a new job to be done. However, Madlax is crying. When asked, she can’t say why. This is the first time we have seen her cry. Since her consciousness is mysteriously linked to that of Margaret, perhaps she now knows that Luciano died. Preview Episode 10 "I don't know if I'm right or if I'm wrong. There's only one thing that remains constant. The truth. The unwavering truth." – Vanessa Rene